Steely Dan
USA, 1972–now
American group of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who worked largely in the studio with rotating session musicians. Aja and Gaucho apply jazz harmony and unusually exacting production to rock songwriting.
MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced Steely Dan and 4 artists Steely Dan influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced Steely Dan?
- Charlie Parker — Becker and Fagen built Steely Dan's harmony on bebop — Charlie Parker's chord substitutions are the jazz DNA of their pop.
- Duke Ellington — Ellington's sophisticated orchestration and jazz composition were a lifelong model for Fagen — the band takes its aspiration from the jazz tradition he embodies.
- Bob Dylan — Dylan's literate, allusive lyric-writing was the model for Fagen and Becker's cryptic wordcraft.
Which artists did Steely Dan influence?
- Toto — Toto's members played on Steely Dan's records; the band's jazz-inflected studio perfection is Steely Dan's craft made into their own act.
- Johnny Hates Jazz — Steely Dan's jazz-inflected studio perfection was the band's touchstone — a critic dubbed Johnny Hates Jazz 'a pop Steely Dan'.
- Climie Fisher — Climie Fisher's polished blue-eyed soul and light funk drew on the yacht-rock template Steely Dan defined — jazz and soul tied to funk and R&B.
- Zero 7 — Zero 7's smooth, meticulously produced downtempo owes much to the jazzy soft-rock craft of Steely Dan.